Hazel's Story
by Sailor Eterna
Summary: Sacrificing her own life to save her brothers mates life, Hazelshine was killed to young. Thunderclan sent her back to live her life to the fullest. A new threat however is rising to the territories, will Hazel be able to defeat it as she meets old friends and re-meets her family? Rating maybe subject to change.
1. Chapter 1

Oi vey…. I've been reading to many of the Warriors books again  
-

A small figure, faded and starry, to a point where one could hardly tell it was a brown tabby colored she-cat. She sat staring at the edge of something, looking down into the object that could not be seen, her tail coiled tightly around her paws as voices could be heard muffled by the object she was staring through as few cats talked behind her.

"Lakesong, she was too young, she shouldn't have come here yet." A voice spoke, but no one was seen.

"Aye, Skyfall, she was." A very dimmed out lined feature of a cat could be seen against the shadows looking out towards the starry faded she-cat.

"Her story still has yet to be told doesn't it?" Another figure emerged from the darkness and sat down next to the other cat.

"That it does." Lakesong spoke, her head still turned in the direction of the cat.

"Are you going to keep being mysterious or can you tell me what we're going to do?" The smaller tom asked flattening his ears.

The she-cat snorted with looking over at Skyfall. "Calm your claws Skyfall, I will. Grassleaf's kits are due soon, Thunder, has requested we send her back to her home clan, ThunderClan. This is the best way, because Grassleaf swore she'd name one of the kits after Hazelshine, because she gave her life to save her from the foxes when the forest caught fire." Lakesong spoke, returning her gaze to the cat whom had been identified as Hazelshine. "And what better way for her to be able to do that, than give her Hazelshine herself." She finished and broke out into a purr.

"Ah, Thunder was always the smart one." Skyfall spoke, his tail twitching.

"Which would by why he was the first leader of ThunderClan." Lakesong laughed.

"Well, we should probably send her on her way then." Skyfall spoke ignoring the taller she-cats retort.

Lakesong nodded and stepped forward towards Hazelshine who had begun glowing and shimmering more than the other cats had. Hazelshine seemed to notice this and looked back, dark hazel eyes staring at the warrior. "Lakesong?" She asked.

The other warrior merely looked at her and seemed to smile. "Live the way that you were meant to." She purred, and with that, the brown tabby she cat vanished from view.

Down in the woods of ThunderClan, in the nursery laid a Queen, by the name of Grassleaf, giving birth as the kits were due. "Push Grassleaf!" A cat in the nursery laid, on her side her claws out as she dug into the ground around her.

The pale spotted she-cat looked up and if looks could kill, this kitty would be fried. "I'm trying Jayfeather!" She groaned as she heaved for another breath and pushed. Suddenly a mewling cry was heard as she looked down as her ears flicked back and she looked down, finally, it was the last kit. A dark brown tabby she-cat. "Hazelkit." She murmured moving back immediately to lick the kit clean and placed it on the ground next to her two brothers and sister.

"Congratulations Grassleaf!" Jayfeather purred, as he didn't see them he could hear all the same. "Should I let Falconwing in?" He asked, staring blindly at the noises from the kits coming towards him.

"Yes!" She spoke suddenly being broken out of the trance she had been put in. The grey tom nodded and bowed out of the nursery, reappearing a second later with a dark grey leopard printed tom next to him.

"Grassleaf?" He spoke to his mate, looking at her slightly unsure.

The she-cat broke out into purrs. "Get in here you scaredy-cat." She purred, her tail wrapping around her kits. The tom hesitated for a moment more before padding over towards her. "Congratulations, daddy." She spoke purring as the tom straightened up right away, looking over the kits he stopped suddenly on the dark brown tabby she-cat.

"She looks just like Hazelshine." He spoke, remembering his sister, and sitting down, still looking at the kit.

"That's why I named her Hazelkit, after Hazelshine." She spoke looking up at him. "I hope it's alright with you." She had known that he wasn't too fond of having a daughter that reminded him so much of his sister, but she had put her life on it that she would.

"It's perfect." He spoke looking up. "I bet she's up in StarClan purring her hind-end off." He laughed at the thought of her doing that.

"Yes… I bet she is. What are we going to name the others?" She asked looking at the other three kits.

"What do you think?" He asked, willing to let her name them.

"Well… the other she kit looks like a Amberkit…" She spoke tilting her head off to the side, licking the brown colored she-kit.

Falconwing nodded in agreement. "The… other two.. Palekit and Rockkit?" He suggested sitting down near his mate, still looking at Hazelkit. Grassleaf thought for a moment before finally nodding her head in agreeing with him.

"Those are wonderful names…" She trailed off.

-Timeskip brought to you by the wonderful Firestar-

"Oof! Ow! Hey Hazelkit! That hurt!" A high-pitched squeaky meow was heard from inside the nursery.

"It's not my fault you can't handle play fighting!" Hazelkit squeaked sitting down as she wrapped her small tails around her paws. "I'm gonna be the best warrior in Thunderclan! Just like daddy! You watch and see!" She jumped suddenly and released her tiny claws from there sheathes as batted at the ground below her.

"No way! She-cats aren't strong enough! I'm gonna be the best warrior!" Hazelkit perked up to see her brother Palekit standing up from where he'd been sleeping in their nest, he jumped down and came over to where his sisters were sitting.

"I'll show you! She-cats are just as strong if not stronger than toms!"

"Pff! Yeah right!"

"Yeah! I am right!" Hazelkit now slightly enraged.. well as enraged as a tiny she-kit could be. She pulled her claws back and jumped onto of her brother as he fell to the ground with an oof, and began batting at his sister.

"H-hey! You two stop! I'm gonna get Grassleaf!" Squeaked Amberkit. But Hazelkit and Palekit ignored their sister and kept at it. Luckily, they were the only ones in the nursery right now, however Shadeleaf would be coming in soon as her stomach was starting to get heavy with kits. Amberkit jumped out of the way as her brother and sister soon came tussling towards her, she squeaked and jumped up and ran out of the nursery squeaking for her mother. "Grassleaf! Grassleaf!" She cried out as she tumbled into the clearing. A few of the warriors chuckled as they saw the kit come tumbling out of the nursery.

After being unable to find her mother, Amberkit plopped down and screeched. "MOMMY!" As the shriek rang out through the clearing. Near the food pile a she-cats ears flew up and her green colored eyes wide with alarm as she whirled around. "Am-amberkit?!" She cried out dropping the food she'd been eating and leaving behind her two friends dashed to the location where the screech rang out.

"Amberkit?! Are you okay?! What happened? Where are your brothers and sister? Is someone hurt?!" She spoke looking the kit over as she pushed her onto her back looking for wounds or scratches.

"O-ow! I'm fine Grassleaf!" Amberkit squeaked out as her mother vivaciously looked her over for wounds.

"T-then why are you out of the nursery?"

"Because Hazelkit and Palekit are fighting again!" She whined looking up at her mother through her blue eyes.

Grassleaf heaved a very heavy sigh of relief and sat down. "Dear, I realize that your siblings fighting isn't very fun for you but you do realize that you can just climb up into the nest or go find one of the elders, right?" She asked lifting an eye up.

"I guess… but you gotta come stop them!" She squeaked out jumping up and running back to the nursery, and sure enough the two of them were still at it rolling around on the floor, except Rockkit had woken up and had his front paws perched up on the side of the nest watching.

Grassleaf sighed and had trailed in behind her daughter, coming in to see her kits tussling on the floor as Amberkit flew to hide behind her mother's forelegs. Grassleaf loved her kits but StarClan… if they could just behave long enough for her to go get food. "Hazelkit! Palekit! That is enough! Stop it!" Grassleaf spoke in her motherly tone. The two kits stopped immediately afterwards, ending with Hazelkit pinning her brother to the ground.

"Ha! I win! She-kits rule, toms drool." Hazelkit stuck her tongue out at her brother and moved off of him and started grooming herself.

Palekit growled as well as a kit could and jumped to his hind legs, about to pounce on his sister again as he felt himself being lifted off the ground and then plopped into the nest with his brother.

"Palekit what did I tell you about giving into your sister's jives, and Hazelkit, apologize. Now." Grassleaf spoke with a harsher tone.

Flinching Hazelkit pulled her ears flat against her head. "Sorry Grassleaf… sorry Palekit." She spoke looking down.

Palekit had a smug look on his face as he plopped down onto his brother. "Uh-uh, I know that this fighting didn't start from nothing, Palekit apologize to your sister for whatever you said to her."

"Aw but Grassleaf!"

"Now!"

"Okay.. okay. Sorry Hazelkit, for saying that she-kits aren't as strong as toms. "He spoke pushing at Rockkit.

"Hey… don't bring me into this." Rockkit yawned sleepily as he poked his head back down and curled up.

Grassleaf chuckled at her kits and smiled. She'd done a good job of raising them she thought. Rockkit sleeping to enjoy sleeping a little too much, Palekit was strong-headed and clashed with his younger sister quite a lot. Amberkit was a mommy's girl and a daddy's girl, if they were both around you could expect her to be front and center. Hazelkit… Hazelkit reminded Grassleaf so much of Hazelshine. She was strong-hearted, and seemed so far to be sure in her ways.

A loud noise of joyous calls outside alerted her attention from her kits to the door. She knew that noise, it must have meant that the hunting party was back and that also meant Falconwing was back. She couldn't help but purr as she began to go towards the door, and before she could stop her, Hazelkit was tumbling outside the entrance to the camp.

Hazelkit stood up her green eyes shining brightly as she whipped her head around looking for her father. She ran down the path avoiding the divest where the grass had become worn down. And finally, at the bottom of the hill she wiggled her way past the small band of warriors that had come together to see what was caught.

Looking around she finally saw him as she jumped up with a small gleeful squeak, Hazelkit burst forward and dashed towards her father. "Falconwing!" She squeaked colliding with her tabby'd father, looking up to see him talking to a broad-shouldered tom that Hazelkit hadn't seen before. Suddenly feeling very shy, Hazelkit hid under her father her face in his leg.

Falconwing looked down to see his daughter and started chuckled. "Hello to you Hazelkit." He spoke leaning down and nuzzling her, but noticed how shy she'd gotten suddenly, she looked forward and glanced up at what she could be hiding from but couldn't figure out what.

A sudden laugh pulled him from his thoughts as he looked to the tom sitting next to him. "Oh! Hazelkit, this is Cedarcreek." He spoke gesturing with his tail to the tall tom next to him. Cedarcreek was a deep gray tabby cat, he was abundantly tall and had deep blue colored eyes.

Cedarcreek turned his head to the side and lowered himself down to the small kit. "Hello Hazelkit." He spoke with a gentle hello.

"H-hi." She squeaked still hiding behind her father.

Cedarcreek lifted his head back up a more somber look taking over his features this time. "She looks so much like Hazelshine." He spoke to Falconwing.

"She does.. its one of the reasons Grassleaf named her Hazelkit." He nodded.

Bramblestar, the current leader of ThunderClan then emerged from his den in the rocks, looking down towards Cedarcreek and Falconwing. "Cedarcreek, I need to speak with you." He said before disappearing behind the covering that covered the entrance to his den. Cedarcreek nodded to Falconwing and said goodbye to Hazelkit before he stood up and quickly moved up the rocked formed steps up to the crack in the wall and entered it.

Hazelkit then popped up from under her dad and flicked her tail. "Whose Hazelshine?" She asked watching the tall tom slink into the crack.

Falconwing heaved a bit of a sigh and laid down next to his daughter. "She was my sister." He answered to her.

"What happened to her?"

"She died, saving your mother and her apprentice when they were being being chased by a fox… when the forest was on fire."

-insert flash back here-

Grassleaf stood back against the fallen tree, Sagepaw behind her. The fox was coming towards her its muzzle low and growling. "G-get back!" The she-cat got out before reaching out and swiping at the fox with her claws out, the fox jumped back and growled again.

It jumped and came down towards the pale colored she-cat before a sudden blur of brown jumped over the fallen tree and collided with the fox, pushing it off track towards the two cats. The fox hit the ground with a thump as Grassleaf whipped her head over to see the cat who'd saved them land nearby. "H-hazelshine?!" She screeched. The green eye'd cat looked towards Grassleaf hard and began speaking.

"Grassleaf, there's not time to talk. Get Sagepaw and get out of here. The forest is on fire." She meowed seriously, ducking as the fox had regained its footing and lashed out at Hazelshine. "Now!" Hazelshine meowed as she turned, claws out and reached up on her hind legs and lashed out at the fox's muzzle.

Grassleaf panicked for a second before turning around and down at Sagepaw, she was still out. "Uh.. um.. Oh! Mousebile! There has to be some around here… where.. where…" She'd learned a few things from Jayfeather as an apprentice, one of those were that mouse bile smelled very bad and might be enough to force Sageleaf back to consciousness. She searched along the forest floor praying to Starclan that Hazelshine could keep the fox occupied. She finally discovered some and grabbed it ignoring the horrendous smell and ran back to her apprentice forcing it next to her nose before looking back at Hazelshine. She'd been running at full steam but was starting to look battered, the fox wasn't looking in the best of shape either.

"Grassleaf!" Hazelshine screeched, her stomach being battered at by the fox. "Get out of here!" Hazelshine clawed the fox's neck and brought it down with her.

Grassleaf was about to leap in and help when Sagepaw waking up finally caught her attention. "W-what i-is that smell?! Ew!" She squawked out scambling to her feet.

"You're awake! C-come on we need to get out of here, the forest is one fire." Grassleaf spoke checking her apprentice over.

"Wh-what about the fox?!" Sageleaf asked.

"Hazelshine is fighting it."

"Shouldn't we help her?!"

"You're uneasy on your feet, and she told me to get you out of here. She's strong, she'll be fine. Come on let's go."

But how wrong had Grassleaf been. Hazelshine held off the fox a long as she could, the flames from the fire were reaching her. By this time, she released the fox from fighting and took off. She was weary and tired, she was bloodied and severly wounded inflicted to her by the fox, A gash on her side, and her back left foot had been ripped down the side. She limped as fast as she could, the flames were moving faster though, Hazelshine got caught up in the flames.. and soon.. was no more.

Grassleaf and Sagepaw made it out of the forest in record time. The rest of the cats were sitting waiting, Bramblestar sitting at the back of the group a worried look his face. As soon as they appeared, two senior warriors moved forward to help Sagepaw whose was limping at this point. Hazelshines brother, Falconwing rushed over, soon followed by Cedarcreek, whom was involved with Hazelshine to some degree, Falconwings his mate who collapsed against him. "Thank Starclan. Grassleaf I was so worried." Falconwing purred heavily nuzzling her. "Where's Hazelshine? Thought she'd be right behind you." Falconwing glanced up.

"S-shes not back yet?!" Grassleaf screeched out as she pulled herself back up. "We-we have to go look for her!" Grassleaf stumbled out as she moved forward, only to be pulled back by Falconwing.

"My sister is strong… she'll be okay." A few hours passed and there still was no sign of Hazelshine. Falconwing and Hazelshine's mother, Softheart had heard of what was going on and it sent her into wailing, hiding in the elder's den with her own brother. Cedarcreek had grown ever so quiet and stayed out of the way of the others. Falconwing was trying to calm down his distraught mate whose was blaming herself for Hazelshines death. "It's my fault. If I had just kept Sagepaw out of the forest today." She cried out, Falconwing struggling himself pushed his muzzle into Grassleafs neck. "I-I promise. When w-we have kits… I will name one after her. I'll raise her to be strong." She yowled to him as she put her head down on Falconwing.

-End Flash Back-

"Hazelshine sounds like a good cat." Hazelkit squeaked out.

"She was."

"Well… I'm gonna grow up to be just like her! I'll be strong too! You'll see!"

Falconwing laughed at his daughter and leaned down to nuzzle her. "I have no doubt about it."

(Last time skip for this chapter, it's almost done I promise.)

Hazelkit bounced anxiously as she sat up on the rock next to her siblings time had passed and they were six moons, finally of the age to become apprentices and Hazelkit couldn't have been more excited. Palekit, Rockkit and Amberkit sat before her. They each received their apprentice names and mentors. Palepaw was given to Threshpelt, Rockpaw was given to Squirrelflight, and Amberpaw was given to Snowbush.

Hazelkit sat bravely as Bramblestar turned to her and began to speak. "Hazelkit, you promise to learn and follow Warrior code to the best of your knowledge as your mentor teaches you?"

"I-I do!" She spoke bravely look at the tom in the eyes.

"Then I grant you the name of Hazelpaw, may you learn to be strong. Your mentor will be Cedarcreek." Bramblestar nodded to the tall tom sitting in the back. Hazelpaw felt a rush of joy run through her as she turned her head towards her mentor, she had to contain herself as she walked down off the rock and over to her mentor and touched noses with him and sat down.

"May all these new apprentices grow to be strong Warriors to serve Thunderclan greatly."

Whew, chapter 1 is done, I've been a big fan of the Warrior cats series and decided to give it a shot at writing a fanfic. I'll provide a list of the cats that I have involved in here, I have it set a few years after the final events of the book. So yes, Jayfeather, Lionblaze are all still alive. I couldn't find the exact words used for the ceremony so I BS'd it a little lol. Comments are very welcome!


	2. Chapter 2: Storytime

Chapter 2!

A/N: Thank you for the review Hollythorn! Very sweet of you!

Here's my list of characters as promised (Bear with me it might be a bit long)

 **Hazelpaw** : A brown tabby she-cat, white spot in between her eyes and covers her nose, dark hazel eyes. ( **Siblings:** Rockpaw, Palepaw, Amberpaw. **Mother** : Grassleaf **Father:** Falconwing **Past life sibling:** Falconwing **Mentor:** Cedarcreek)

 **Rockpaw** : A solid dark brown tom, white paws, a bit bulkier, dark green eyes ( **Sibling:** Palepaw, Amberpaw, Hazelpaw **Mother:** Grassleaf **Father:** Falconwing **Mentor:** Squirrelflight)

 **Palepaw** : A pale brown tabby tom with pale green eyes. ( **Siblings:** Rockpaw, Amberpaw, Hazelpaw **Mother:** Grassleaf **Father:** Falconwing **Mentor:** Threshpelt)

 **Amberpaw** : An amber brown she-cat with gorgeous blue eyes ( **Siblings:** Palepaw, Rockpaw, Hazelpaw **Mother:** Grassleaf **Father:** Falconwing **Mentor:** Snowbush)

 **Grassleaf:** A gorgeous sandy pelted she-cat with blue green-eyes ( **Mate:** Falconwing **Kits:** Rockpaw, Palepaw, Amberpaw, Hazelpaw)

 **Falconwing** : A dark brown tabby tom with dark intense green eyes ( **Mate:** Grassleaf **Kits:** Rockpaw, Palepaw, Amberpaw, Hazelpaw **Siblings:** Hazelshine)

 **Cedarcreek** : A very tall broad shouldered gray tabby tom, intense blue eyes ( **Apprentice:** Hazelpaw)

Those are all my characters so hopefully that sorts out any confusion, let me know if there are questions!

Onto the story!

Hazelpaw moved slowly under the brush, keeping low to the ground, attempting not to hit the leaves and branches above her to avoid making noise. She saw an opening for her chance. Sneaking forward she positioned herself on the opening and gazed out in front of her, looking for… wait… where did..? Where had Cedarcreek gone, he had been sitting in the brush when she had push away. He'd told her to work on being more quiet in the brush and she'd been trying, but now that she had the perfect spot to pounce on him from, he was completely gone.

She huffed and sat up, creating a shuffling noise in the brush, and suddenly she heard something from behind her, she whipped her head around and saw Cedarcreek midair jumping at her, she yelped and attempted to get out of the way but, the huge tom landed on her and tackled her to the ground. "Oof! Cedarcreek! What was that for!" She angrily puffed out, attempting from getting out from underneath the tom.

"You gave up your location." He spoke still on top of her.

"I know! I was looking for you!" She hissed looking up her mentor. While Hazelpaw had grown, so did her temper and desire to be a great warrior. She often times got angry when she didn't get things correct the first time around, it was becoming a bad habit. "I messed it up!"

"You were so focused on being quiet, you didn't hear me leave or hear when I climbed up onto the higher ground. When you're in battle you won't have time to be so quiet and you'll need to attack quickly without thinking twice." Cedarcreek nodded finally stepping off the younger apprentice stretching.

Hazelpaw huffed again as she sprang up to her feet her tail straight back as she looked to her mentor. "Hazelshine I bet never had this much trouble learning. Falconwing said she was an amazing warrior." She batted her tail, striking the ground behind her.

Cedarcreek's ears perked up his ears at the mention of his past good friend. He heaved a small sigh and sat back on his haunches looking at the apprentice with a serious look on her face. "Hazelshine.. Actually did have quite a few problems… she was a lot like you actually. She strived for perfection in herself, and got quite mad when she messed up." He nodded.

"Oh yeah? How do you know?" Hazelpaw asked ready to defend her fallen aunt at any moment.

"Because we were apprentices together. Hazelshine was my best friend when we were younger. We did everything together. Hunting lessons, we used to beg Lionblaze and Dovewing to let us have our lessons together."

"Wait you were close with Hazelshine? Oh Cedarcreek tell me about her! Falconwing won't talk to me about her very much, Grassleaf says it's because it hurts him too much."

"..very well." Cedarcreek nodded before motioning to his apprentice. What most cats didn't know is just how close Cedarcreek and Hazelshine had been. Hazelshine had been in love with Cedarcreek from the time that they were apprentices. She got jealous every time another she-cat would approach the tom.

Cedarcreek stood up, his tail flickering, he stopped for a moment after taking a step waggering an idea before he nodded. "Hazelpaw come with me." He meowed taking a running leap and jumping up from the training hollow. Hazelpaw scrambled on her paws to keep up with him.

"H-hey Cedarcreek where are we going?" She spoke leaping up on the ledge, digging her claws into the soil as she pulled herself up and ran after the older tom.

"You'll see, just keep up. Use this as a chance to work on your speed." He nodded to the younger she-cat as he jumped up and began bound out from the forest out towards the river. Rolling her eyes Hazelpaw jumped up and ran after him.

After a little bit Hazelpaw finally caught up with him and staggered before flopping down, breathing hard. "H-how- can you r-run l-like that w-without being tired!" She rushed out trying to catch her breath, her heart was pounding inside her chest like a wildfire. Cedarcreek laughed and jumped up again.

"Come with me."

"N-no mo-more running pl-please." She heaved standing up as her paws were shaking. Cedarcreek just snorted and shook his head, he moved into the brush and disappeared under it.

Hazelpaw just blinked. How on earth..? She hadn't gotten a chance to look around she'd just been focusing on catching up to him. She realized they were next to a burrow of bushes close to the river. She heaved another sigh and urged her body upwards and pushed herself into the undergrowth he'd vanished into. There was a small tunnel that led underground, she muttered something about mentors and pushed into it. The tunnel was rather short and she came up on the other side, she saw Cedarcreek sitting there staring off into.. The river. Hazelpaws eyes widened as she pulled herself all the way up and stared off into the vast water. They were on a small outcropping from the burrow of bushes, surrounded completely with the river in front of them.

"Careful not to fall in, I can't swim very well." He joked.

"W-what is this place?!" She meowed looking at the water still amazed.

"This is where Hazelshine and I used to go when we wanted to be alone. We found it one day while we were playing as apprentices. Things were stressful back when we were young so we got away as much as we could."

Hazelpaw raised an eye to look at him. "Aren't you still pretty young?" She meowed.

Cedarcreek snorted. "Give or take 25 moons, so I suppose I still am."

"Well I'm only 7 moons so!"

"Getting us off topic again Hazelpaw."

"Oops.. sorry."

"But yes.. This is where we would come."

Hazelpaw stared at him and whapped her tail against the ground again. "I thought you were going to tell me about her!" She meowed.

"Alright alright! Mouse-dung… you're more like her than you think.."

- **FLASHBACK** -

(I will be referring to Hazelpaw but this is Hazelshine as an apprentice, as not to be confused with the Hazel right now… even though this is her reincarnated.. This will be so much easier when she gets her warrior name)

"Hey! Cedarpaw that's no fair!" Hazelpaw meowed as she chased her friend down the side of the river.

The two of them had escaped the camp for the time being. Things were somewhat tense back there, Squirrelflight and Bramblestar had gotten into a fight in the middle of a clan meeting and Cedarpaw had dragged Hazelpaw away to get out of the way and have some fun.. Granted they weren't supposed to leave the camp without a warrior but.. They weren't going to get into trouble.. She thought.

"No one said I played fair!" The younger tom laughed as he bounded down the side of the river. Hazelpaw had to slow down to a walk and eventually a walk as she watched the tom ahead of her run off laughing. That was one thing she didn't understand about the tom. He was tall and was quick on his feet, did those two things normally go together? She sighed and sat down as her tail flicked looking off as he disappeared over the hill. Was she ever going to be able to to move like that? Well actually was she ever going to be good at anything.

Hazelpaw often times got down on herself because she felt that she wasn't strong enough to defend the clan from danger or protect those she loved. How could she even when couldn't even keep up with her best friend? She laid down and waited for the tom to come back, her head on her paws as she gazed off in the direction he'd gone.

After a few minutes he still hadn't come back. She lifted her head up and began to worry, without taking another another thought, she was on her feet and running after the tom. She got over to the ridge to see that he wasn't there.

Panic set in as she looked around, her head whipping every which way. "Cedarpaw?!" She yelled. There was no response. She ran down the hill, still yelling his name getting no response.

"Cedarpaw!" She yelled one more time, and very faintly from her ear she heard a response.

"Hazelpaw… help!" Her ears whipped back, it sounded like it was coming from the river, she was amazed she could even hear it over the sound of the water. She took a sharp turn and ran towards it, skittering to a halt when she approached it.

The water was moving rather fast at the moment as her eyes scanned back and forth, curse that tom for being gray, he could blend in rather easily with the water. Her eyes landed on a gray mass holding onto a log that had been lodged into the ground. "Cedarpaw!" She screeched. She began pacing along the edge of the bank trying to figure out what to do, there wasn't time to run all the way back to camp and get help. Starclan knew what would happen if she did and had gotten back. There weren't any patrols around and there was no one in sight.

She panicked and without another thought, she leapt into the water, fighting against the current. The water wasn't raging rapids fast but it was still moving at a rather fast pace. She stuck along the edge of the bank, using rocks she found steady enough to get over to him.

"You dummy!" Cedarpaw shouted over the water. "How are we going to get back now!?"

"I'm the dummy?! Who's the one that jumped into the water!" She shouted back, now clinging to the same branch he was.

"Well I- Ahh! Hazelpaw help!" He shouted out as his paw lost its grip and he was pulled away.

"You foxbrain!" Hazelpaw shouted out again. She let herself be let go and pulled with the water, grabbing at it as she could. She swam forward trying to catch up with her sputtering friend, finally she caught up to him.

She looked around and saw a ledge poking out of the water and up onto the bank. She had to act quickly though because it was coming by quickly. Hazelpaw heaved herself forward grabbing the tom by the scruff and tried to swim across the water so they would hit the ledge. She struggled to keep her head up, Cedarpaw was bigger than her and no doubt heavier. But she still pushed her legs and managed to get in line with the ledge.

The water pushed them onto the ledge, still struggling not to let go, she clawed her way up backwards, heaving and pulling Cedarpaws body as she did. "Fhy far fu fo feavy!" She said with a mouthful of fur as she continued to struggled.

Finally she hit the top of it as she pulled herself up, wet and aching she pulled Cedarpaws body with a final tug, she pulled him all the way up and staggered back, toppling over as she heaved for air. She stayed down for a good couple minutes while she recovered before standing up, staggering a few feet and landing on top of Cedarpaw with an oof..

The sudden jolt of pressure was enough to push the water from Cedarpaws mouth as he started coughing and hacking, gasping for breath. Cedarpaw looked up to see Hazelpaw collapsed onto his chest as he attempted to move but she was right on top of him. "H-hey Hazelpaw.." He muttered.

There was no response as there was only the rise and fall of her chest. She'd passed out from exhaustion the cause being having dragged his body from the river. He felt himself fluster as he tried to move again. "H-hey Hazelpaw come on.. Move." He pushed her again but she didn't budge. Cedarpaw heaved with annoyance, he guessed this is where they'd be spending the night.. They'd having a lot of explaining to do tomorrow.

- **END FLASHBACK** -

Hazelpaw (back to present) stared at her mentor before she broke out laughing. "W-wait! Hazelshine saved _you_?" She asked her eyes wide with amusement as she looked up from where she was sitting.

Cedarcreeks ears flattened back as he looked annoyed at his apprentice and kept going with the story. "Anyways… when we woke up, it was here on this outcropping. That ledge right there is the one that she dragged me up. She gave me an earful and cuffed me on the ear I don't know how many times."

"Well I would hope so! You almost got her killed!"

Cedarcreek fell silent for a moment, gazing out towards the river. Hazelpaw kicked herself mentally for saying that. Yes this almost killed her aunt but.. She would have died saving Cedarcreek instead of saving her mother and Sagesong. "...sorry I didn't mean it like that.. You must miss her."

Cedarcreek sighed and nodded before looking back at the she-cat. "You are so much like her though. She would get frustrated like I said, but she pushed through that and became a very strong warrior. She had a strong heart." He spoke.

It was Hazelpaw's turn to fall silent while she flicked her tail and pulled herself up, turning towards the grove. "Hazelpaw?" Her mentor questioned.

"What? I've gotta practice if I wanna be like Hazelshine!" She meowed and pushed through the tunnel. Cedarcreek couldn't help but break into a purr, his tail flipping as he stood up and looked up towards the darkening sky.

"She's so much like you Hazelshine.. I miss you.. And I love you.." He said, those last words rolling off his tongue as he turned his blue eyes towards the grove and followed his apprentice, the wind slowly blowing as they both vanished from the spot.

A/: All doneeeeeeeeeee, with this chapter at least. I know this one was a little low on interactions between the other characters but I really wanted to get these two set in stone and show how their interactions with be with one another. And as for accepting OC's..? Hm.. I didn't actually think about that, but send me a PM, SilverMidnightMoon, and we'll see what we can do. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, please keep reading and reviewing! Starting on the next chapter as I am posting this!

Eterna


End file.
